23 - KAJIKAWA: A FINE FOUR-CASE GOLD LACQUER ‘WATERFALL AMONG YOUNG PINES’ INRO

KAJIKAWA: A FINE FOUR-CASE GOLD LACQUER ‘WATERFALL AMONG YOUNG PINES’ INRO By a member of the Kajikawa family, signed Kajikawa 梶川 saku 作 with a red pot seal Ei 榮 Japan, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Of upright rectangular form and oval section, bearing a luminous kinji ground, finely decorated in gold and silver takamaki-e and hiramaki-e and enriched with kirigane, with a continuous rocky landscape depicting a waterfall cascading in successive tiers among craggy outcrops and clusters of young pines. The finely graduated gold grounds and scattered kirigane highlights lend the landscape considerable depth and brilliance. The interior cases are finished in rich nashiji with gold fundame rims. Signed to the underside in gold hiramaki-e KAJIKAWA saku [made by Kajikawa] with a red pot seal Ei. With a lacquered wood ojime. HEIGHT 9.2 cm, LENGTH 4.8 cm Condition: Excellent condition with a tiny dent to the top of the inro and some very minor general wear including a few typical scattered losses to the kirigane flakes. The Kajikawa family represents one of the most celebrated dynasties of Japanese lacquer artists and is arguably the name most frequently encountered on inro. Traditionally said to have been founded by Hikobei in Edo in the early 17th century, the lineage rose to particular prominence under his son and pupil Kyujiro, whom the Soken Kisho, an important 18th-century treatise on lacquer, described as “the best inro maker of the past or present.” Successive members of the family served the Tokugawa shogunate well into the 19th century. Many Kajikawa inro bear only the family name, frequently accompanied by the characteristic red pot seal. For further reference, see Edward A. Wrangham and Joe Earle (eds.), The Index of Inro Artists, 1995, pp. 107-108. Auction comparison: Compare a related four-case gold lacquer inro by the Kajikawa family, decorated with a continuous landscape of undulating hills, maple trees, a meandering river, and figures harvesting rice, signed Kajikawa saku with pot seal Ei, at Bonhams, London, Fine Japanese Art, 16 May 2013, lot 202 (sold for GBP 3,125 or approx. EUR 5,300 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).